MSNBC aired an F-bomb from conceding Texas Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke Tuesday night, who lost to incumbent Senator Ted Cruz. “Sorry for the F-bomb,” anchor Brian Williams said afterward. “We have no control of what’s in the concession speeches.” C-SPAN also aired the word uncensored; Fox News and CNN were not broadcasting the speech at the time.

But out of-home ratings for the midterm elections were good to CNN, which pulled ahead of Fox News Channel as voting began to close down on the East Coast Wednesday night, beginning around 6PM and continuing until the following morning. Fox News tends to pull larger OOH numbers on a day-to-day basis, but CNN surged from .7M (compared to Fox’s .5M) beginning at 6PM, and topped 1M between 8-11PM (compared to Fox’s .9M).

Late-night hosts with live shows saw ratings boosted by election-related material, with CBS‘ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2.9HH in metered markets), edging past ABC‘s Jimmy Kimmel Live (2.3). Kimmel scored a .8 rating in 18-49s, a five-month high, ahead of Colbert’s .6 in the same demo.

Heisenberg may be knocking again! Breaking Bad is about to get another prequel, this time as a film written and directed by series creator Vince Gilligan, who’s also behind the other Breaking prequel series Better Call Saul. The standalone installment in the franchise is expected to start shooting in mid-November in New Mexico, but whether original stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul will be involved remains to be seen.

Fox is reporting higher first-quarter fiscal earnings, adjusting its earnings to 52 cents per share, compared with 49 cents per share last year at that time. Fiscal first-quarter revenue increased 2 percent to $7.18B, thanks to higher affiliate and advertising revenue in broadcast and cable TV. The company is set to sell many of its businesses to the Walt Disney Co. for $71.3B in 2019.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM SITUATION & THE AD COUNCIL

The Ad Council and digital agency Situation are offering Cynopsis readers exclusive access to their upcoming thought leadership event happening next Wednesday, November 14th. They are hosting a panel discussion titled Entertain to Sustain: Where Entertainment & Social Good Meet with industry experts from across the entertainment and advertising industries. If you’re interested in attending or learning more, check out the event here using the password dogoodbegood. Don’t miss out on this special offer; tickets are limited.

PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

Freeform has greenlit its first original holiday movie for the 2019 25 Days of Christmas event, a film with the working title of Ghosting, which will be executive produced by Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky and star Aisha Dee (The Bold Type) and Kimiko Glenn (The Guest Book).

ABC is developing The Sorority Girl Who Saved Your Life, a new drama series from former Arrow co-showrunner Wendy Mericle, Ellen Pompeo, Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly, along with ABC Studios. It will be based on an upcoming book by Tracy Walder and Jessica Anya Blau, and tells Walder’s true story of being recruited by the CIA while a Delta Gamma sorority sister.

The CW is looking to bring back The 4400, which was a hit for USA Network in 2004. The reboot will be co-written and executive produced by Justified writer/producer Taylor Elmore and Craig Sweeny (who started out as a writer on the original series).

ABC has ordered more episodes of Kids Are Alright and Splitting Up Together. Nine additional episodes will equal a traditional full season of 22 for Kids, and with five more episodes Splitting will have an 18-episode second season.

NEW & RETURNING SERIES

Alec Baldwin‘s talk show The Alec Baldwin Show is leaving ABC’s Sunday schedule for a less populated neighborhood: Saturday, 10PM, as of Dec. 8. The show had already been low-rated, but its host’s arrest for assault in New York City last week may not have helped its profile.

New episodes of MTV‘s Catfish: The TV Show are on the way starting Nov. 28 at 9PM. This season, the show will attempt to find someone to join host Nev Schulman after longtime co-host Max Joseph, who had been with the show since its 2012 premiere, announced he was moving on in August.

Freeform‘s 25 Days of Christmas program block has unveiled several original programming entries, including the Tyra Banks-starring Life-Size 2, Pop Up Santa Holiday Special, Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings: Holiday Magic, No Sleep ‘Til Christmas, The Truth About Christmas and regular appearances from Shadowhunters star Isaiah Mustafa in on-air spots as Freeform Santa.

COMING UP

Cozi TV is hoping people will want to wallow in some nostalgia after wallowing in turkey, stuffing and gravy on Thanksgiving weekend, with an Unexpected Guests four-day marathon of memorable episodes from Will & Grace; Murder, She Wrote; Frasier and others. The focus will be on guest stars in early or surprising roles, like Helen Hunt on The Bionic Woman. Marathon runs from Nov. 22-25.

Actress Megan Fox will be spanning the globe to examine enduring legends and lore in Travel Channel‘s new series Legends of the Lost With Megan Fox. The series, which will premiere on December 4 at 8PM, will consist of four hour-long episodes, beginning with visits to Scandinavia and England.

CASTING

Bel Powley (White Boy Rick) has been cast opposite Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell in Apple‘s morning show drama series. She’ll play Claire Conway, a production assistant…. Niecy Nash and Courtney B. Vance are set to star in Netflix‘s Uncorked, which is the directorial debut for Insecure showrunner Prentice Penny….Michael Sheen has joined the cast of The Good Fight on CBS All Access for its upcoming third season as Roland Blum, a charismatic and Machiavellian lawyer.

Kathleen Turner, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Kyle Bornheimer will star in Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings: These Old Bones, an episode of Netflix‘s forthcoming eight-episode anthology series that focuses on the stories behind the country legend’s songs. All episodes are set to premiere in 2019.

Swamp Thing has added more cast members, including Power‘s Andy Bean as biologist Alec Holland, who in the DC Universe mythology becomes the Thing itself. Meanwhile, Derek Mears, who starred as Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th reboot, will play the bog monster. The streaming series is set to premiere in 2019 on the DC Universe digital subscription service.

MEASUREMENT & DATA

Execs gathered at NYC’s Yale Club yesterday for the Cynopsis Measurement & Data Boot Camp, which offered training on how digital media is bought, sold and measured. “We’re all learning, we’re all playing… which is the great thing about rooms like this, where we’re all sharing,” said Susan Hogan, SVP, research measurement, Iab. Among the insights: “You need to do the work to get the right data,” said Newcombe Clark, global director, Rapid Learning Lab, AIG. Along the same lines, Harvey Goldhersz, EVP, data & innovation, IRi, noted, “You set yourself for success not by what you do in the campaign, but what you do before the campaign.” Alex von Krogh, VP sales, from sponsor TV Time, offered a case study of two different kinds of comedies, to show how data from viewers can be used along with more traditional data to provide a new way to value programs.

Jonathan Bokor, SVP, director of Precision Video Publicis, advised keeping a close eye on data, because ”It’s in the interest of sellers to ramp up frequency.” Ikechi Okoronkwo, director, senior partner, advanced analytics lead for marketing sciences, Mindshare, reminded attendees that data “has to be in the language the client uses in their own business every day.” Bring the client behind the curtain and “see how the meat is made” – scary though that may be, said Okoronkwo.

On the final panel of the day, focused on maximizing the programmatic buy, Jon Stewart, VP, measurement, Survata, discussed the use of brand lift measurement to optimize and plan media. How to get started? Pick a measurement partner with data representative of the audience; get set up; and make a plan. Bottom line: ”It’s not getting easier,” said moderator Marc Rappin, VP strategic partnership, Currnt. But it appears the industry is moving in the right direction.

SYNDICATION

Bounce is bringing Olivia Pope back to prime time. In a multi-year agreement with Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International, Bounce has acquired all seven seasons and 125 episodes of ABC‘s Scandal, and will begin airing the series Monday to Friday nights at 8PM beginning Nov. 12.

PODCASTS

Sports anchor and reporter Lindsay Czarniak will be hosting a new podcast with Cadence 13 called Players, which will focus on the intersection of sports and music. Czarniak, who is the wife of Today Show anchor Craig Melvin, will speak with artists including Cole Swindell, Lee Brice and Scotty McCreery. Episode one of the podcast is now available for subscription through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and other outlets.

KID STUFF

Crawford’s Corner LLC has announced two new licensing partnerships with KD Interactive‘s Kurio tablet and the IconLogin Lock Screen. Crawford the Cat, which is the intellectual property of Crawford’s Corner, will now be featured on the kid-safe tablets and smart devices, including a new Kurio tablet that will come preloaded with Crawford content.

Beat Bugs creator Josh Wakely, whose animated show returns for season 3 on Netflix on November 9, explains how he made a kids series that appeals to children and parents alike, in the new Cynsiders.

DIGITAL DOINGS

Otter Media is growing its fandom-focused video platform VRV with content from across the WarnerMedia portfolio, including Final Space and Boomerang from Turner; plus Mike Tyson Mysteries and Jabberjaw from Warner Bros. Animation. “Collaboration like this creates big wins for consumers,” said Tony Goncalves, CEO of Otter Media. “We believe there is a consumer need for aggregation, and working with our sister companies within WarnerMedia allows us to offer even more great content that our fans can watch and experience together.”

Parks Associates has updated its ranking of OTT subscription services in the US, and says HBO Now and Starz are now in the top five, trailing only streaming services Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. Showtime and CBS All Access are Nos. 7 and 8 on the list.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Quest, Discovery‘s British free-to-air broadcaster, has ordered 21 episodes of Al Murray’s Great British Pub Quiz, to be hosted by the Pub Landlord comedian.

ITV Studios reported a 10 percent year-on-year increase in revenues for the first nine months of 2018, bringing overall company revenues up to $3 billion. Additionally, CEO Carolyn McCall said ad revenues were up 2 percent and online advertising 43 percent.

eOne and Birdo Studio‘s Cupcake & Dino: General Services will debut in Brazil on Netflix Nov. 13, and on Disney XD Brasil on Nov. 15.

Facebook has partnered with Fremantle to launch new international versions of its interactive game show Confetti in the UK, Thailand, India, Vietnam and the Philippines on Facebook Watch. The rollout is set to begin in the UK later in November, with additional markets to follow.

The Cynopsis TV Awards salute excellence in national TV programming, from writing and directing to casting and hosting. In addition, we recognize outstanding achievement across teams, platforms, and overall merit. In short, winning a Cynopsis TV Award is acknowledgement that your work has risen to the top in entertaining and enriching a broad audience. Winners will be announced at the highly-anticipated awards gala, this February in NYC.

Sam Johnson has been named VP of Development, Emerging and Brand at LA-based independent production company INE Entertainment. Johnson was instrumental in leading INE projects including the live interactive game show What’s In the Box on Facebook Watch.

Karin Joy has been appointed executive producer, MELS VFX Los Angeles. She most recently worked as VFX Producer on Crazy Alien and Okja and was associate producer for Shrek studio conversions at Dreamworks.

IN MEMORIAM

Casting director Eddie Foy III, who worked on classic series including Cheers, M*A*S*H, Happy Days and The Monkees died on November 3 after a fall in his home in Denison, Iowa. He was 83. He was a third-generation member of the Foy show business family, whose story was told in the 1955 film The Seven Little Foys, and had been a casting director for 42 years.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

TOP WOMEN IN SPORTS

celebrating female trailblazers in the sports industry

Honorees are change agents who empower + inspire with their drive for innovation and inclusion.

Today’s Trivia Question: Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is a hit on Netflix right now. But what’s the title of her most-adapted (in the US) short story? (Email trivia@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four correct answers from each time zone will be selected.)

JOB OPENING:FIELD PRODUCER/Dateline/NBC News/NYC: Responsible for research, conducting interviews, field producing, shooting, and editing. Must have at least 6 yrs of exp working in long form, package or documentary programming. substantial shooting experience with a variety of cameras. Full info/apply HERE (11/14)

JOB OPENING:SEGMENT PRODUCER/EARLY TODAY MSNBC/NYC: Write/produce w/speed and accuracy for MSNBC Early Today. The Segment Producer is responsible for consistently delivering compelling in-depth news stories. 5 years of experience in live TV. Full info/apply HERE (11/14)

JOB OPENING:SOCIAL MEDIA MANGER/PAC-12/SF: Own Pac-12’s social media strategy; orchestrate social media production and curation across a wide spectrum of stakeholders. Min 4 yrs professional exp, w/at least 2 yrs as a social media guru Full Posting/Apply HERE (11/13)

JOB OPENING:MGR, GRAPHICS/Spectrum News/El Segundo CA: Supervise/lead a team of graphic artists/designers through all the facets of prod managing mult requests through all the phases of production and delivery. 5+ yrs TV news or production exp; 2+ years management experience. Full info/applyHERE (11/10)

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